Photo by: Brenden Cowan

On Nov. 25, the Brock Badgers headed on the road to Toronto to face off against the York University Lions. The Badgers were on a three-game winning streak going into the Friday night matchup, while York had lost their previous two games. 

The Badgers got off to a slow start, missing open looks and allowing the Lions to go up 8-2 in the first quarter. But a timeout called by Brock’s head coach Willy Manigat got the team back on track. Coming out of the timeout the Badgers went on a 9-0 run, taking their first lead of the game on a three from Daniel Caldwell.

The remainder of the quarter was back-and-forth action but Brock finished the quarter on top 19-14, picking up their lackadaisical shooting and finishing the quarter with a 53.8 per cent shooting percentage. Brock’s top scorer in the quarter was Jevon Brown and Michael Matas with four points each, both shooting two for two from the field. 

In the second quarter, Brock and York played shutdown defence as both teams shot below 25 per cent and only scored nine points. Through half the game, Brock led 28-23 but played what looked like their worst half of the season. 

To start the second half Brock’s Jordan Tcheunte scored the first basket at 9:10, followed by a trip to the line on the very next possession by Jesse Barnes in which he shot one for two putting the Badgers up 31-23. 

York continued their poor shooting as they missed on their first seven possessions before nailing back-to-back threes, four minutes in to cut the Brock lead back to five. Brock answered right back with a run of their own, scoring the following three buckets, notching their first double-digit lead of the game 39-28, forcing York to take a timeout. 

Like the Badgers in the first half, coming out of the timeout, York turned the momentum back their way scoring back-to-back jumpers and taking a piece out of the Brock lead. The momentum would continue throughout the rest of the quarter as York brought it back within two to end the quarter, the Badgers leading 44-42. 

Lions guard Prince Kamunga shot four for seven with three three-pointers, notching 12 points in the quarter and accumulating nearly half of York’s points with 19 points in the game. Kamunga continued his world-class performance in the fourth quarter adding another six-point on just two shots. 

Although York took the lead in the fourth quarter Brock’s firepower was too much for the bottom-of-the-table Lions. Brock outscored York 24 to 21 in the fourth and had big-time baskets from Isiah Bujdoso and Daniel Caldwell to put them up by five, two separate times late in the last frame. 

The final was Brock 68, York 63 as the Badgers won their fourth straight and moved to 6-1 on the season. Brock’s Jordan Tcheunte managed a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds in 30 minutes on the floor. While the best player in the game was York University’s Prince Kamunga finishing the game with 25 points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal. 

Brock is back in action at home on Dec. 2 against the number-one-ranked Carleton Ravens. 

The men’s basketball schedule can be viewed at gobadgers.ca. Tickets to upcoming games can be bought here or the game can be streamed on OUAtv.